It's Show Time!

I did something today that I haven't done in all my (15) years in Edinburgh - no, not climb the Scott Monument - I've done that. I went to the Royal Highland Show. And I loved it. I knew I would, as I was always a big fan of the A&P shows in NZ. There was SO much to look at. And so much to blip.

The entertainment was non-stop - climbing walls with wee kids scaling them, a fishing demonstration (it was very interesting and very technical and he had a big crowd), show jumping of course, and animals parading round many rings. There were llamas and goats with humungous horns. I loved the racket in the sheep/goat area - it was deafening.

I arrived at one ring and asked a couple of folk what was happening. 'Terrier racing'. Well, that was the funniest thing! The handlers had a big loop of rope, from one end of the field to the other. The dogs were in cages at one end, and at the other was a chap on a (modified) bike, the rope looped round the (modified) front wheel so that it could be whizzed backwards and forwards by pedaling furiously. Tied on the rope was a small ball. The dogs were let out in pairs and raced up and down after this ball, and it was hilarious. Then he got kids out to race up and down as well as the dogs, then he got dogs from the audience to have a go.

After that we had Bird of Prey demonstration. A Harris Hawk flew around, then a Black Kite swooped around us, but didn't land, while the handler told us facts about them. The helper threw bits of food in the air for it. It did eventually land, as it was tired. Another one joined us, but didn't come near, it was quite new to the training. The big gulls harried it and it disappeared over the trees. A handler got it back, I think...

Then we had a gun dog demonstration. A chap who trains gun dogs for people all over the world. One dog lives in Switzerland, and when the owners go on holiday, they send the dog back to him on a private jet!

There were ferrets - very cute. They had to be shut away while the BoP were out, because if the BoP caught sight of them, they'd kill them. And, in fact, they'd kill the smaller BoP, so there's only ever one off at a time. The Kites work as a team in nature.

Then I went to the poultry tent. There was a pond full of tiny wee Call Ducks. .They are the cutest things. Exactly like the rubber ducks I have in my bath - the same shape, almost the same size, only mine are yellow and call ducks are white with little round yellow/orange beaks.

I've changed my mind several times while typing this, but I'm going to go with the plucky wee girl climber. I like the bright colours, and her shape. What a great day!